Tuesday 27 December 2011

No more need for school reunions?

Are old school reunions going to be something of the past? With the advent of social network, will there be any need to make the effort to go and meet up with your old school friends of 20 years ago? We can know in a heart beat sotospeak what ever happened to the most beautiful girl or the best looking boy or the geek in the class. A quick click here and there and we can see from photos, videos and from posts the lives of our old chums. According to research promoted by the New York Times, such reunions have been reduced nearly by half. Is it due really to the likes of twitter and facebook or is it due to 'money worries' in times of global crisis?
Can social network satisfy our curiousity and nostalgia to the point that we will never feel the urge to see old friends in person?

Monday 12 December 2011

Emails to be abolished for 80,000 staff

It is now the turn of emails to be retired as before them letters and faxes. Thierry Breton, the managing director of the huge information services company, Atios, has decided that within the next 18 months, emails between the company's 80,000 staff should be abolished abd substituted by internal 'chat'. The company discovered that too much time was being spent deleting the emails every day by the staff. In fact, on average 100 emails a day per person with 15% of thos emails being useless meant that every person spent between the company and home 15-20 hours a week to check and respond to emails.
Would you prefer to use 'chat' rather than emails for work? Would it save you time?

Sunday 4 December 2011

Will Italy's new financial plans turn out to be a miracle for them and Europe?

Will the Italians and /or the European still believe in miracles after the Italian technical government announces its plan for the economic crisis? Rumour has it that the retirement age will rise to 66 years for men from 2012 and the same age (66) for women from 2016 with a minium of 42 years (men) and 41years (women) of contributions to the national insurance fund; those earning over 70,000 euro will have to pay 46% on income tax making Italy high up on the most taxed country table in Europe; re-introduction of council tax on the first home but with a new council tax on second and third homes plus tax on luxury boats and moorings in touristic harbours; incentives for companies who invest in R&D; and goods can only be bought with cash upto €1000 to reduce tax evasion with sums over that limit being paid with plastic or cheques.

No doubt, all will be revealed tomorrow when the markets open.